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This is definitely not the right software for you if you’re a large business with advanced needs regarding inventory management. For more advanced tools that will serve larger product-based businesses, look to BooksTime Books or BooksTime Online. Wave allows you to add customer contact information manually or to import your list of contacts from Google Contacts and via CSV file. The customers’ names, phone numbers, saved forms of payment, and overdue balances will be displayed in a list view, allowing you to easily check if your customers owe your business anything. This review will walk through the features and services offered by Wave. We’ll discuss the product’s usability, customer service, and any major benefits or drawbacks of the software. We’ll also show real images of the software to give you an idea of what it’s like to use Wave.
Can I pay my BooksTime subscription annually?
It’s hard/impossible to claim BooksTime as it is monthly billed not annually.
This has made many of the businesses to save their valuable time and money. Wave app and software are designed mainly for freelancers, consultants, and new businesses.
Wave Vs BooksTime Faqs
You can, however, download and install our mobile invoicing app for iOS and Android. Eliminate data-entry, and conveniently get the financial reports you need, so you can spend more time doing what you love. Starting with Wave Payments, let’s see how much riding with Wave will cost your business. BooksTime Capital is a service offered by BooksTime Financing, Inc., a subsidiary of BooksTime Inc., that can help get you the capital you need to grow your business.
I don’t know of one freelancer who has budgeted $149 a month for bookkeeping services. If you’re a freelancer wondering why an accounting software hasn’t been created just for you, you can stop looking now.
Help is also available from the menu bar, as is the live chat option. One of the more helpful options is the Integrations tab, which allows you to easily connect with various apps that integrate with Wave. Wave product support is available by submitting a support request from the Wave website.
The thing that is the most annoying is when you want to do a recurring billing. It doesn’t use something like Maintenance contract #1 then go to #2 or something like that it makes recurring billing invoice names that were the most recent of any invoices. Maybe I am not using it correctly, but each time I have to go and change invoice names then manually send it to the client. Compared with free software like Wave, BooksTime plans are expensive. The most basic plan, Simple Start, costs $25 a month, but the top-tier Advanced plan costs $180 a month, which is a sizable investment if you’re running a business on a tight budget. After providing a few basic details about your business — name, type, currency you use, address — you’ll have instant access to your free account.
Brilliant Support
Don’t get us wrong, Wave doesn’t fall short because it’s free – it offers an incredible amount of features and contends with many paid accounting apps. While BooksTime has price plans ranging from $25 to $150/month, BooksTime software is free. With Wave, you pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction per credit card transaction for non-European issued cards, and 1.4% + 20p per transaction for European issued cards. With the many accounting and invoicing tools on the market, you can simplify, streamline and even automate your financial tasks.
Joe Warnimont is a Chicago-based writer who focuses on eCommerce tools, WordPress, and social media. When not fishing or practicing yoga, he’s collecting stamps at national parks (even though that’s mainly for children). Email addresses are given for contacting the company, but you should know that live chat and phone support are not available.
Other Accounting Software
Every report template in Wave is optimized to look clean and to be easy to understand, even for people who are not used to seeing these reports. Unfortunately, Wave doesn’t let you create a repeating bill, so if you have a recurring expense, you’ll have to create a new bill each time. Unlike BooksTime, which lets you customize your invoice templates freely through Excel sheets, Wave only has three invoice templates you can use. Fortunately, you can still add your logo and pick an accent color to personalize your invoice. You can make a repeating invoice from either the dashboard, the “recurring invoices” page or through the status page of your invoice. On the top of the “invoices” page, you can find a box that shows you an overview, including how much money is overdue or how much is due within the next 30 days. As the name indicates, the “invoices” page shows all of your invoices and their statuses.
Therefore, although there is only one version of the prepaid expenses, the add-ons that you’ll have to choose from will allow you to tailor your software to your business’s specific needs. Moreover, you’ll be able to access workers comp coverage through AP Intego, calculate vacations, bonuses, and other benefits, receive payroll reminders, and receive priority customer support from Wave. Finally, if you need to want to run payroll through your accounting software, you can use the Wave payroll add-on. Although these add-ons are not free, they are pay as you go, meaning their cost will be based on how much you use them. Therefore, if you want access to these additional functions, you don’t have to worry about paying an unnecessary fee when you’re not actually using them.
Alternative To BooksTime
Generating revenue is the main aim of your business, and that means invoicing customers. With Wave, you can amend, customize, and style invoices to reflect your brand and present a professional image. Together, this suite of services provides everything a small business owner needs to take care of the money in a company. To look at a variety of accounting software that will meet your business’s needs, check out our Product Selection Tool. Except for the features like payments and payroll, this software is totally FREE. This being said, if you’re not positive that BooksTime will meet your business needs, you might try creating a free account and exploring the software yourself. After all, since this software is free, there’s no harm in trying Wave out—and this way, you’ll be able to better determine if it’s the right choice for your business.
Plus, both of these add-ons are pay as you go, meaning the cost is based on how you use them. Also, they each offer substantial functionality, connect directly to your main Wave account, and work seamlessly with the software. With the Payments by Wave add-on, therefore, you’ll be able to offer a service to your customers, as well as manage your payments and transaction quickly and easily—and all in one place. With Payments by Wave, you’ll be able to accept all major credit cards and ACH payments—and manage your payment processing through Wave. Wave’s lack of a subscription fee, though, may not matter to small businesses that need the accounting tools that it doesn’t include. You can start small if you want and easily make the transition to more full-featured versions when it’s necessary. Prices range from $25 per month for BooksTime Simple Start to $150 per month for Advanced.
- Therefore, although BooksTime Online may not be quite as simple and user-friendly as Wave, it’s a tried-and-true solution.
- Plus, although Wave’s accounting software is free to use, Wave offers email-based customer support, as well as online resources such as their blog, help center, and community forum.
- We’ll also show real images of the software to give you an idea of what it’s like to use Wave.
- Wave’s customer support resources and new Wave Advisor services make it easy for people with limited accounting experience to learn the software.
- BooksTime, however, offers every single accounting feature for free.
When you think about it, just about all of these can be implemented into an ecommerce system. For example, you can send out digital receipts, manage payments and get your payroll under control. The “stay on top of taxes” section compiles the taxes you’ve paid on your invoices and bills. The “sales tax” report helps you assemble the taxes collected from your sales and paid on purchases. The “payroll and wage” report helps you monitor the money spent on your employees’ wages and taxes.
Fully customizable packages will scale with your business as you grow allowing you to save time and effort with transitioning. The packages available are competitively priced, so BooksTime is a great option for your business. The reports are one of the main reasons Wave can’t be used for larger companies. Beginners will find it nice, but some people might be frustrated that the only reports you get are the balance sheet, transactions, and profit/loss reports. Writing up your bills and paying them on time only takes a few minutes with Wave. I don’t see people having any problems with this, except for the fact that recurring billing is not included. I hope this comes along in the future, but you generally have to go in and pay your bills manually each month.
Waves Features
It’s hard to beat free accounting and invoicing software, especially if you’re a freelancer or very small business. However, Wave cannot – and shouldn’t – offer every possible feature for niche use cases. With BooksTime, you can take advantage of advanced reporting, inventory management, mileage tracking and so much more. That said, most small businesses will have less need for the features at BooksTime Services a higher price point. The mobile app lets you take photos of receipts and it’ll automatically match it up with existing transactions. This takes a lot of the hassle out of one of the most frustrating parts of bookkeeping. BooksTime is the tried-and-tested accounting software for businesses of all sizes, Wave is a free alternative with a passionate fanbase… which tool is best for your business?
Additionally, the higher-level plans of BooksTime Online can give you the ability to manage bills, track time, inventory, and project profitability, and more. There’s no accounting software that’s the perfect solution for every small business—BooksTime included. Moreover and in the same vein, Wave does not offer integration options for third-party tools or apps , whereas many other accounting systems do. Therefore, if you’re looking for accounting software that can incorporate more tax assistance, you might consider a Wave alternative.
No other service I’ve reviewed handles expedited payments this way. Integrated payroll is available from Wave, but it’s not as accomplished as many competing standalone tools (which you can’t use with Wave). Most states are self-serve, retained earnings meaning Wave calculates payroll taxes, but users must pay and file them themselves. If you live in one of the 14 full-service states, though, Wave can make your payments and file the required paperwork with state agencies and the IRS.
That means you can protect your cash flow, ensure you have enough money to meet your obligations, and grow your business. This in-depth review of BooksTime will tell you everything you need to know about the software, so you can decide if it’s right for your business.
The site also provides report templates that can be generated within the application and exported as CSV or PDF files. This is a fairly slim set of reports for a double-entry accounting website. BooksTime Online offers many more, with good customization options. New in Wave, though, is cash basis reporting for relevant reports.
You can also filter and display your invoices by status, date, number or customers, which helps you find invoices quicker. The only applications Wave can integrate with are PayPal, Etsy, Shoeboxed, Zapier and Google Sheets. That said, Zapier can help you connect multiple platforms to Wave. So when you learn to use one feature within the bookkeeping software, you’ve already learned how to use most of the others. Plus, the way to complete one task is very similar to the way you complete another. For example, creating an invoice is very similar to the way you create a new estimate. If you’re moving your office to the cloud, we can protect your data with 256-bit SSL encryption.
Plus, although Wave’s accounting software is free to use, Wave offers email-based customer support, as well as online resources such as their blog, help center, and community forum. To start our BooksTime review, let’s dive deeper into the details of this software. As we mentioned, the core BooksTime software is completely free and you can easily sign up for an account on their website, no credit card required.
The Cash Flow report appears at the top of the screen in graph form, followed by Profit & Loss. Below that is a list of outstanding invoices and bills—mini aging reports. You can click on any of them to view the underlying transactions. The Dashboard also displays account balances and income/expense numbers and charts, as well as links to common activities like adding customers and customizing your invoices.